S&P 500 Barely Up as Best Buy Staggers

The Standard & Poors 500 Index gained only two points in Tuesdays morning
session to reach 1,164. Poor results from Best Buy (NYSE: BBY ) were holding
back consumer stocks. Concerns about economic growth continued to be a lag on
energy shares. Advancing stocks outnumbered declining stocks by an almost 2-to-1
ratio. Bullish and bearish sentiment was evenly split. The S&P is flat for the
past five days of trading while being down more than 7.3% for the year. Cummins
Inc. (NYSE: CMI ) rose by more than $6, or about 7%, to over $93 per share to
lead the S&P early in the day. The engine maker told analysts this morning that
it expects strong profits for 2011, and Wall Street responded accordingly.
Cummins is down about 5% for the month and more than 20% for the past six
months. Comerica (NYSE: CMA ) also was taking the S&P higher, rising more than
5.5% to over $24, picking up more than $1.25 per share. Comerica was able to
extricate itself from a bad investment in a project in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.,
though it sold at an 80%-plus loss. The bank recently was upgraded by Compass
Point. Comerica is down more than 3% for the week and about 40% for the year.
Continuing its rally was Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU ), up by about 2.2% and
20 cents to over $6.90. For the week, Micron Technology is higher by more than
21%, but the stock is down more than 35% for the past six months. Poor
second-quarter numbers had Best Buy under $23, losing around $2, or 8%, in
morning action. Best Buy reported a drop in net income of 30% for the second
quarter, worse than the analyst community expected. Best Buy still is up almost
4% for the week but is down more than 26% for the year. Whole Foods Market
(NASDAQ: WFM ) was off by more than 70 cents, or about 1%, to around $64.95. An
analyst note from Jefferies expressed concerns about Whole Foods maintaining
profits as consumers become more price sensitive. Whole Foods is up more than 4%
for the week, 14% for the month, 20% for the quarter and almost 90% for the
year. There is a short float now of 3.3% for Whole Foods. Cabot Oil & Gas (NYSE:
COG ) fell below $69 per share in early buying and selling, dropping about 90
cents, or 1.22%. Capital One downgraded Cabot Oil & Gas on Tuesday morning. The
energy company now is off by more than 6% for the week, but its up more than
138% for the year. Jonathan Yates does not own any of the stocks mentioned in
this article.